chernmax
NOT Politically Correct!!
Suit blames St. Mary’s for deadly landfill leaks
JEN DEGREGORIO
Daily Record Business Writer
January 23, 2007 6:48 PM
A developer has sued the St. Mary’s County Board of Commissioners for allegedly failing to stop a landfill’s toxic waste from contaminating the site of a nearby planned housing project.
Marcas LLC filed suit Monday in the U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, seeking more than $24 million in damages. The suit alleges that the county knowingly allowed hazardous substances from St. Andrews Landfill to pollute adjacent land zoned for a housing development for the Patuxent Naval Air Station.
The pollution allegedly caused Marcas to lose its investment in its 227-acre housing project, First Colony, which has been planned since 1998. The suit accuses the county of violating federal environmental laws, trespassing, negligence and failing to abate a nuisance, among other allegations.
In addition to monetary damages, Marcas is asking the court to enforce regulations that would contain pollution at St. Andrews Landfill.
Officials with St. Mary’s County and Marcas representatives did not return phone calls to comment for this article. A spokesperson for the Maryland Department of the Environment declined to comment.
St. Andrews Landfill is a 270-acre tract located at the intersection of routes 4 and 235. Just southwest of the landfill sits Marca’s property, which the county rezoned in 1998 to allow construction of 400 homes and more than 1 million square feet of commercial space for First Colony.
According to the complaint, drinking water near the properties has violated safety standards “since at least 1994.” A monitoring well near the landfill recorded improperly high levels of the chemicals tetrachlorathene and vinyl chloride, a known human carcinogen, according to the suit.
“Unsafe levels of these and other chemicals migrating from the landfill continue to exist today in groundwater at this and other monitoring wells located on and near plaintiff’s property,” the complaint said.
St. Mary’s County allegedly failed to inform Marcas of inspections by the Maryland Department of the Environment revealing the landfill’s contamination of “adjacent waters of the state, including the headwaters of the St. Mary’s River.”
Nor did the county reveal that an employee of the Maryland Environmental Service was diagnosed with toxic pneumonia and congestive heart failure after exposure to methane gas and other chemicals at St. Andrews, the suit said.
“The landfill was operated without a hazardous waste management permit, does not have a current hazardous waste management permit, and is not designed, operated, or closed in accordance with hazardous waste requirements,” the suit said.
A county-commissioned study of landfill gas in late 2003 discovered gas concentrations “found to exceed regulatory limits,” according to the complaint. The study found methane gas to be “as much as 13 times above the explosive limit … on and near the plaintiff’s property,” the suit said. But the suit said the county did not disclose the study’s findings to Marcas.
When development company officials expressed concerns about the landfill in 1996, the county “advised them that the landfill should not adversely affect development of the property,” the suit said.
In 2004, Marcas commissioned its own studies. The results “confirmed the presence and extent of landfill gas, leachate and contaminated surface water migrating from the landfill onto the property,” the complaint said.
One study found that, with proper action, the pollution could be “remedied within seven months for approximately $950,000.”
“Rather than remedying the migration of hazardous constituents in leachate and gas migrating from the landfill onto the property,” county officials instead considered legislation that would block development near the landfill, the suit said.
Because of the pollution, Marcas contends that its partner, Lincoln Property Company Southwest Inc. pulled out much of its investment in First Colony. Lincoln had partnered to build 240 units of housing at First Colony meant for the Patuxent Naval Air Station. But Lincoln later reduced its investment from $24 million to $10 million, the suit said.
“To date, defendant has constructed no facilities that will remove methane gas … from plaintiff’s property,” the complaint said. “These impacts present hazards to human health and the environment and leave the property currently unsuitable for development by plaintiff.”
JEN DEGREGORIO
Daily Record Business Writer
January 23, 2007 6:48 PM
A developer has sued the St. Mary’s County Board of Commissioners for allegedly failing to stop a landfill’s toxic waste from contaminating the site of a nearby planned housing project.
Marcas LLC filed suit Monday in the U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, seeking more than $24 million in damages. The suit alleges that the county knowingly allowed hazardous substances from St. Andrews Landfill to pollute adjacent land zoned for a housing development for the Patuxent Naval Air Station.
The pollution allegedly caused Marcas to lose its investment in its 227-acre housing project, First Colony, which has been planned since 1998. The suit accuses the county of violating federal environmental laws, trespassing, negligence and failing to abate a nuisance, among other allegations.
In addition to monetary damages, Marcas is asking the court to enforce regulations that would contain pollution at St. Andrews Landfill.
Officials with St. Mary’s County and Marcas representatives did not return phone calls to comment for this article. A spokesperson for the Maryland Department of the Environment declined to comment.
St. Andrews Landfill is a 270-acre tract located at the intersection of routes 4 and 235. Just southwest of the landfill sits Marca’s property, which the county rezoned in 1998 to allow construction of 400 homes and more than 1 million square feet of commercial space for First Colony.
According to the complaint, drinking water near the properties has violated safety standards “since at least 1994.” A monitoring well near the landfill recorded improperly high levels of the chemicals tetrachlorathene and vinyl chloride, a known human carcinogen, according to the suit.
“Unsafe levels of these and other chemicals migrating from the landfill continue to exist today in groundwater at this and other monitoring wells located on and near plaintiff’s property,” the complaint said.
St. Mary’s County allegedly failed to inform Marcas of inspections by the Maryland Department of the Environment revealing the landfill’s contamination of “adjacent waters of the state, including the headwaters of the St. Mary’s River.”
Nor did the county reveal that an employee of the Maryland Environmental Service was diagnosed with toxic pneumonia and congestive heart failure after exposure to methane gas and other chemicals at St. Andrews, the suit said.
“The landfill was operated without a hazardous waste management permit, does not have a current hazardous waste management permit, and is not designed, operated, or closed in accordance with hazardous waste requirements,” the suit said.
A county-commissioned study of landfill gas in late 2003 discovered gas concentrations “found to exceed regulatory limits,” according to the complaint. The study found methane gas to be “as much as 13 times above the explosive limit … on and near the plaintiff’s property,” the suit said. But the suit said the county did not disclose the study’s findings to Marcas.
When development company officials expressed concerns about the landfill in 1996, the county “advised them that the landfill should not adversely affect development of the property,” the suit said.
In 2004, Marcas commissioned its own studies. The results “confirmed the presence and extent of landfill gas, leachate and contaminated surface water migrating from the landfill onto the property,” the complaint said.
One study found that, with proper action, the pollution could be “remedied within seven months for approximately $950,000.”
“Rather than remedying the migration of hazardous constituents in leachate and gas migrating from the landfill onto the property,” county officials instead considered legislation that would block development near the landfill, the suit said.
Because of the pollution, Marcas contends that its partner, Lincoln Property Company Southwest Inc. pulled out much of its investment in First Colony. Lincoln had partnered to build 240 units of housing at First Colony meant for the Patuxent Naval Air Station. But Lincoln later reduced its investment from $24 million to $10 million, the suit said.
“To date, defendant has constructed no facilities that will remove methane gas … from plaintiff’s property,” the complaint said. “These impacts present hazards to human health and the environment and leave the property currently unsuitable for development by plaintiff.”
